This Blog is about important things that have to do with buying and selling real estate. There are a few ramblings, too. If you put your email in just below and press submit you can get the latest and greatest information as it happens, Enjoy

Sunday, August 23, 2015

Pamela MadoreThe Pamela Madore Group806-340-7630The Ten Commandments OF Buying a HouseWhen it is time, you have made the decision to buy a house, there are some things that you need to know about the process. I call them the ten commandments of do nots.

The Real Ten Commandments

Number One: Do Not Quit Your JobNumber Two: Do Not Go Buy A CarNumber Three: Do Not Deposit Large Amounts of Money In Your Bank Number Four: Do Not Buy FurnitureNumber Five: Do Not Be Late On Any PaymentsNumber Six: Do Not Withdraw Large Amounts Of Money From Your Bank Number Seven: Do Not Change JobsNumber Eight: Do Not Be Stressed--This is NormalNumber Nine: Do Not Murder Your Realtor Or Loan OfficerNumber Ten: Do Not Forget To Tell All Of Your Friends And Family About Us

Don't let your transaction go south!

A lot of things happen in a real estate transaction. The first seven are non-negotiable. I have seen way too many transactions go south because of one of those seven things.Number eight and nine are just reminders that things don't always go right or as planned. No one person has control over every aspect of the transaction.

Everyone has a car like mine.

Did you ever notice that when you bought our last car, suddenly all you saw was that car everywhere? It is the same here. You will run into people that are thinking of buying or selling and we really appreciate the referrals. :-)

Friday, August 21, 2015

Pamela MadoreThe Pamela Madore GroupKeller Williams Realty806-340-7630How To Buy A HUD ForeclosureIt is always tempting to want to buy a foreclosure. Read this carefully before you decide so you know all the rules. THEY ARE NOT ALWAYS A GOOD DEALContrary to popular belief, not all foreclosures are a good deal. As a matter of fact, some are very bad deals. You have to be very careful when deciding on whether or not to bid (make an offer). On the other hand, some are very good deals. It seems that HUD has no rhyme nor reason how they price the houses. You can keep a constant eye on what is available at the HUD real estate site. If you see one you like just call us and we will show it to you and put your bid in.

This may be an investor
property.

HOW TO GET FINANCINGFinancing can also become an obstacle. The house may need some repairs before a bank will accept it. HUD will do no repairs. Of course, cash always works. If you don't have cash and the property needs repair you could consider an FHA program called a 203K which provides you with cash to do the repairs. HUD will not always allow a house to come back into the FHA program. A conventional loan is usually less stringent on repairs but the house has to have floors and windows at least. Each house is different so let us help you with that.WHAT IS A PROPERTY CONDITION REPORTFor each property HUD does what is called a property condition report. They hook up a generator and do what tests on electric or anything that is electric in the house. They apply pressure to the water to see if there are any leaks.

Here is an example of a Property Condition Report

Unfortunately, this report isn't really that thorough. For instance, if there is a water leak somewhere so that it won't hold pressure it could be that the washing machine hose is broken or it could mean that the house needs a whole new water line. HOW TO DO INSPECTIONSAll HUD houses have no utilities turned on. In order to do inspections it is your responsibility to have the utilities turned on. Most (depending on the time of year) houses have been winterized so you will need a plumber to come and "un-winterize" and then come back and re-winterize. All of this has to be done in a 48 hour time frame. However, if the property condition report said that the water didn't hold, they won't let you do anything regarding testing the water.

Have your inspections.

HOW TO MAKE AN OFFEROnly Realtors can make offers. We make them through the HUD website. The information that is needed is who is going to be named on the deed and their marital status. We need your address, social security number and phone number. HUD will pay up to 3% in closing costs so you may want to consider that in your bid. If the property is under $50,000 then we would need a $500 earnest money deposit and if it over $50,000 we need a $1000 earnest money deposit. These are cashiers check made out to the title company. If your bid is not accepted you get it back.

Just Need Your Basic
Information

CAN I MAKE AN OFFER AT ANY TIME

As I write this, there are 10 HUD properties for sale. One is a lottery, seven are exclusive and one is extended. Depending on its status, we can determine when you can make an offer.Lottery as defined by HUD: Law enforcement officers, pre-Kindergarten through 12th grade teachers, firefighters and emergency medical technicians can contribute to community revitalization while becoming homeowners through HUD's Good Neighbor Next Door Sales Program. HUD offers a substantial incentive in the form of a discount of 50% from the list price of the home. In return you must commit to live in the property for 36 months as your sole residence.Only people that can follow that guideline are eligible for that property. Exclusive:Only people that are going to live in the house as their primary residence can put in a bid. HUD does not open these bids for 10 days and then looks at them all at the same time and chooses which one is the best offer. If they don't select any of the offers then any additional bids are opened daily.Extended:Anyone can bid on the property. This is the stage that investors wait for. Those bids are open daily.The process itself, that is the paperwork, is quite simple. You do have to use blue ink and you have a 48 hour time limit to get all of the paperwork to the management company.

The Clock is
Ticking

Here is a little trick I learned that worked out very well for one of my clients. He made a low offer that was not accepted. However, in the offer there is a place to check a box that says "hold for a back-up offer". Well, I had checked that box and a few days later I get an acceptance notification from HUD that his bid had been accepted. Everyone was happy.Some agents will steer you away from foreclosures because they haven't done one and don't know the paperwork. I will only steer you away if it is a bad deal because I know all of the paperwork. Pamela MadoreThe Pamela Madore GroupPink House TeamKeller Williams Realty7304 SW 34thAmarillo, TX 79121806-340-7630http://pinkhouseteam.comThinking of selling. Click here for your free home evaluation.

Wednesday, August 19, 2015

Pamela MadoreThe Pamela Madore Grouphttp://pinkhouseteam.comFind Houses For Sale With Our Personalized Real Time Mobile ApplicationKeep it local---All the features of Realtor.com and more. Communicate with us directly in real time.

Monday, August 17, 2015

Pamela MadoreThe Pamela Madore Grouphttp://pinkhouseteam.comWhat Is All This Hoopla About Real Estate Teams?As great as Michael Jordan is, he couldn't do it all by himself. He needed a team and each team member had a position, a job to do. The better they worked together the more championships they won.

A Team Player

If everyone on the team was a point guard, no matter how good they were they wouldn't get the job done and win.Real estate transactions, have become so complicated over the past few years it is nearly impossible to do it all yourself. If an agent is listing, showing, doing contracts, coordination inspections, doing all of the paperwork and scheduling the closing, they must be exhausted.Thus the advent of the Team concept in real estate. Each person on the team has their role, with a certain amount of cross training. It is important that you, the buyer or seller, know that just because you talk to several people throughout your transaction it isn't that you are getting "passed around". It is because in each stage of your transaction you will have an expert to handle that particular aspect.

Team Work Makes The
Dream Work!

Take the listing agent, for instance. Their role is to know the market, the value of houses, market trends and be able to use their expertise to give you the best available information on pricing your house. That person will complete the listing agreement paperwork, unless you would rather have it down electronically. We have a person for that.A buyer's agent on the other hand, works only with buyers and is an expert in helping buyers get financing, discerning needs, helping to determine what a fair offer would be. This person also searches houses with you the houses and completes the contract, and negotiates the contract on your behalf.A transaction coordinator is the one that does all of the paperwork. We live in an electronic world so 95% of the paperwork is done electronically. Her job is to keep on top of the paperwork, stay in touch with the lender and the title company and to report any problems that may need to be taken care of.There are even more specialized positions on a team, depending on the size of the team and how many clients they are able to help at all times.With great systems in place and experts in their positions, you are less likely to have something "fall through the cracks". Admittedly it does happen now and then. After all, we are human.Let us show you how it works! Click here to register.

Sunday, August 16, 2015

Four Tips To Finding Your Dream HomeEveryone has a different idea of a dream home. In order to save time and help yourself find that home, here are four things you can do.

KNOW YOUR BUDGET

Before you startsearching for homesyou will get qualified at a bank or mortgage company. We can help you with that. They may tell you that you qualify for $200,000, for instance. But what does that translate to in a monthly payment? I have had many buyers that have been told they qualified for a certain amount and then were shocked to know that payment.

Be sure you know how much you want to spend a month. The mortgage company will tell you how much you "can" spend but does that really fit your budget? No one should ever set themselves up for failure.

What is my budget?

You have other plans in your life as well. What if you decide to start a family and will be going from two paychecks to one? On the other hand maybe the kids are all in school and now you have two incomes instead of one. Weigh out each thing that you already have planned for your future and take those things into consideration.

MAKE A LIST

That is just like setting goals. If you don't write them down, they aren't likely to happen. Before you start your search you need to know what you are looking for. Some things on your list could be:

Write down every detail you can think of them sort them into the top five "can't live withouts". When you begin to search for houses remember that top five and see if the house has all five. If not, either throw it away or decide which of the top five you are willing to give up. Have this plan in place before meeting with us. If you didn't happen to read this blog first, we will help you with the top 5.

PLAN TO COME TO OUR OFFICE FOR A CONSULTATION

In this day of mobile everything (download our mobile app here) it is very tempting to see a house, look it up on your phone and think that is the one. Or you make a list of houses that you found online that you want to see.

The better way (saves gas), and the way that we do it, is have you come to the office with your list of houses, if you made one.

We have direct access to the MLS "secret" information. What I mean is that we can see things about the property that you wouldn't have access to from your phone or computer.

Examples might be that we know the house is a short sale and that would probably deter you from buying it. We may have seen the house and know that the layout is really weird. We can also tell how long the house has been on the market which may be beneficial in contract negotiation.

We can look at the houses "on the big screen" and go over each of them with you, comparing to your list of five must haves, and maybe eliminate some houses just by looking at the details. It is very important to both you and us to come to our office for a consultation.

DON'T LOOK AT MORE THAN 5 HOUSES AT A TIME

It is tempting to look at house after house after house. But if we have done our job, your dream home could quite possibly be in those 5.

If you attempt to look at more than 5 houses then they begin to be a blur. Which house had which feature? Did that one have an updated bathroom or was it the other one? Besides, you get tired of driving around getting in and out of the car in this Texas heat to look at houses. Five is enough at one time. And by the way, a good way to remember each house is to name it. The stone fireplace house or the jungle gym in the back yard.

Looked at too many houses

But the very best way, is to eliminate them one by one as you see them until your dream home appears!

Friday, August 14, 2015

This will not be an exhaustive list but we'll talk about several different kinds.

Replacement Cost--This is the most expensive typically but it is also the most comprehensive. Should something happen to your house such as a fire or your hot water heater broke and flooded the house, or someone ran into the house, you will be covered to have it brought back to the standard and condition it was in before the occurence.

The Way It Was

Actual Cash Value ACV--This type of insurance is less costly so as you can expect, it covers less. Let's say we had a hail storm and the roof had damage. On an ACV policy the adjuster will establish what he thinks the roof's remaining years are and he will depreciate it that much. Now you are left with a bad roof and not enough money to replace it.

Enough Money To Fix Half

Flood Insurance--Since Amarillo had the change in the 100 year flood plain many properties that were not in a flood zone are now considered in a flood zone. Flood insurance is very expensive, however, FEMA has established relationship with some agents where you can get the insurance for maybe one-fourth of what you have been quoted by an agent.Commercial Insurance Policy--Although there are many kinds of commercial policies for different types of properties. The commercial policy I am referring to has to do with rental properties. Instead of carrying individual policies on each property, you can buy one policy that includes all of your properties. You can purchase this policy as a replacement cost policy or an ACV.An Umbrella Policy--In this instance, I am talking about an insurance policy that a condominium carries. This policy covers all of the units within the condo development. It generally covers liability for the common areas if any, and any other structures that are for common use. It also covers from the studs out so if anything were to happen to the buildings themselves, fire or a hair storm, the building is covered and you aren't required to do any of the fixing.

There are probably hundreds of types of insurance but these are the common ones that have to do with real estate. A good insurance agent with point you in the right direction for what you need.Need help getting started? Register here and we will help you from there!Pamela MadoreThe Pamela Madore GroupKeller Williams Realty7304 SW 34thAmarillo, TX 79121http://pinkhouseteam.com806-290-1920

Tuesday, August 11, 2015

Pamela MadoreThe Pamela Madore GroupKeller Williams Realtyhttp://pinkhousteam.comWhy Rent When You Can BuyMany people don't think they have the ability to buy. Some think they can't qualify because they don't have any money. Some people think that their credit scores are too low. The most important thing to do is to find out if you CAN qualify for a mortgage, Many times you might not be able to qualify today but in 3 months or 6 months you may be able to.

Keys To Your New Home

Did you know that if you are paying $900 a month rent, that will buy you about $120,000 house? Your landlord may not be too happy when you put in your notice but, oh well, there are plenty of people that have never tried to qualify and they can fill your spot.Finding out if you qualify for a mortgage is really very easy. Most lenders have online applications now. I have a couple I could recommend.

There are many other ones serving Amarillo. The point is to just get started. If there is a problem, get it taken care of now. There are some programs out there right now that require little to nothing down, We can often have the seller pay some or most of the closing costs.If you pay $900 in rent every month that is $10,800 a year that you could be putting toward your own house.

Buy Now!

Another reason to own your own home is that you can write off all of the interest that you pay on your taxes at the end of the year. That could save you more dollars. Don't procrastinate! Move your family today!Register on our website here to get started!Pamela MadoreThe Pamela Madore GroupKeller Williams Realty7304 SW 34thAmarillo, TX 79109http://pinkhousteam.com806-290-1920

Saturday, August 8, 2015

Pamela MadoreThe Pamela Madore GroupKeller Williams Realtyhttp://myamarillohomes.comHow To Get A Texas Real Estate LicenseThere is more than one way to do it but I am going to tell you what I consider to be the easiest way. That is just who I am.

First, you have to take classes. Don't roll your eyes. They are not all that hard and they can all be done online. I can even get you a 50% discount. The classes are 180 hours. Don't faint. There is no "clock" on the classes so you can take them as fast or as slow as you want. It isn't like you actually have to go and sit in a classroom for that many hours. Some people finish them in a week.Once you have done the classes you will need to apply for the actual license. You can do that online too. www.trec.state.tx.us They will need evidence that you finished the classes. You can fax them the certificates that you printed out at the end of each chapter, or you can wait for the school to send them evidence.

Background Check

They will also need your fingerprints for a background check. Hope it comes back clean. You can get those at a variety of places around Amarillo.Once you have applied for your license, you will be able to schedule to take the BIG test. You make an appointment online. The test is local, too.Then study. Or if you are a whiz at test taking don't bother.The test is broken into two parts. There is a national section and a state section. They shut you in a room with other participants, give you an old fashioned calculator, a piece of paper and a pencil. No cell phones. No talking. This is serious business.

Bunch of People Taking the Real Estate Exam

Someone in our office passed both tests in 30 minutes. Others have taken the tests upward of 10 times. You can be in that mix anywhere without shame. You have passed the test! Now what? You have to be sponsored by a company (pick me!) and then the state will know that you are acting as an agent under the supervision of a broker.The next thing you have to do is to join Amarillo Association of Realtors (AAOR), the Texas Association of Realtors and the National Association of Realtor. The local board AAOR will take care of all of that.Only then can you get the magic key. The key that opens the doors of all of the listings in Amarillo. It is the make money key.

Magic Door Opener

All of that is set up and what is your next step. Get trained. Keller Williams Realty has been named the #1 training company across all industries by Training Magazine. So if it were me, I would go to where I could get the best training!Those are the steps. Easy as one, two three.Call me and let's set up a time to go over all of this in detail!Pamela MadoreThe Pamela Madore GroupKeller Williams Realty7304 SW 34thAmarillo, TX 79121http://pinkhouseteam.com806-290-1920pam@pinkhouseteam.com

Thursday, August 6, 2015

Pamela MadoreThe Pamela Madore GroupKeller Williams Realtyhttp://myamarillohomes.comAttention FSBO's !! New Marketing Program Available To You For FreeThis is the same program that I use when I market all of my listings. You will have all of the benefits of a stand alone web-page, marketing tools and opportunities, tracking information and 24 hour access.Frankly, some houses need to be sold FSBO simply because they don't have enough equity to pay all of the closing costs. Or maybe you like to sell houses and would like to talk to me about getting a real estate license? The biggest problem you have as a FSBO is exposure. How are you going to get everyone to know that your house is for sale?As I said, this is the same marketing program I use. And it is very effective. You have to be a little computer savvy (not too much) and be willing to put in some time doing it.

Screen shot of part of the stand alone web-page. Johnny Appleseed is our seller in this example.

What is in it for me? Well, not all of the leads that come through will want to buy your house. First, maybe I can sell them something else? And secondly, when you are ready to buy your new house you already have a Realtor in place. Win-win for everyone.

If you would like a personal demonstration, just let me know. It will take 15 minutes of your time and it might be well worth it!Pamela MadoreThe Pamela Madore GroupKeller Williams Realty7304 SW 34thAmarillo, TX 79121http://myamarillohomes.com806-290-1920

Pamela Madore has been in the real estate and mortgage industry for more than 35 years. She has been interest rates as low as 3% and as high as 18%. She lived in the era of no credit scores and has evolved with the process. One of the most important thing in purchasing a house is obtaining financing. With Pamela's mortgage background she is your best choice as a package deal.

AMARILLO, Texas -- Julie Sauls of the Pamela Madore Group at Keller Williams Realty has successfully
represented the seller in the sale of their home. She received an offer within 30 days and closed within 31
days for a total transaction time of 61 days. She negotiated full asking price."The average days of the market in Amarillo right now is 79.2 days so I am very proud of the outstanding
job that Julie did,'" states Madore.

Another House Sold By
The Pamela Madore Group

Julie's specialty on the team is as a buyer's agent. In this particular rare instance she showed her versatility
in being able to put buyers and sellers together."The Amarillo real estate market continues to be strong but balanced. There are good deals for buyers and
fair prices for sellers. In July alone there were 322 residential sales. There are currently 1304 active
residential listings.
"Julie has not been in the real estate business very long but she is a natural. Buyers love her and she is
always able to find them what they are looking for," continues Madore. "She will find the house even if it
isn't listed for sale. She amazes me."
If you would like to talk to Julie about buying a house she can be reached at Keller Williams Realty.
806-341-1236
The Pamela Madore GroupKeller Williams Realty7304 SW 34thAmarillo, TX 79121http://myamarillohomes.com806-290-1920